Monday, 19 April 2010

It's funding drive! CHUO put on a show! Community radio is totally bad ass and you should make a pledge to your fave program! More exclamation marks! CHUO staff also all listen to really bangin' tunes and thus the selection of fine young (and not so young) bands playing this fundraiser. The Shakey Aches were all incarnations of pop-/proto-/garage-/country-/blues- punk. Yes that is lots of prefixes and no I'm probably not on the money with all of them but why not. I love Holy Cobras and they're always (always!) fun to watch but the mix for them was pretty shit and as such it sounded really muted when I wanted it to be all enveloping. But still, try listen to them and stand still the whole time. Not possible I tells ya. And the band whose name is a symbol ... I don't even know what to say. 9-piece psychedelic-extravaganza, everyone was blissing out. Check out the religious-experience facial expressions. Just go see them when they play. There were lots of old dudes (sorry, am I showing my age?) having a good ol' dance too. Muchos fun.

Took myself out on a whim to what I thought might have been some sort of Just Friends Records party, knowing nothing about the bands playing (every time I'm at the radio station I look up at a poster of theirs and think that all the bands look like such fun. That's effective advertising for you!). It was totes cute but I seemed to be one of about 4 paying punters which is a bit unfortunate, although Raw Sugar was the perfect spot for it, tea and crochet flowers (handmade by Ms. Peek, I bought one, it's loverly) and spectacles and books (and books falling off shelves as literature jokes were cracked. How's that for timing) and fun magnet words in the bathrooms that make you want to stay in there for 6 minutes coming up with several witty and/or twee sentences. 'Cos that's the kind of place Raw Sugar Cafe is and that's the kind of music that you feel like when you go there to stick your nose in a book. These photos are kind of shitty, but y'know. They're here anyway.

Monday, 12 April 2010

4 bands! $10! Seriously under attended! I guess there was quite a bit on on Friday night and experimental/noise music isn't really Ottawa's thing (pop punk seems to be the door to success here). We Fled Cairo (Ottawa) were almost disjunct instrumental post-rock. Because post-rock isn't really my bag I haven't much else to add to that. It was by no means bad though. Adam Saikaley I could dig much more, loud and atmospheric drone/ambient/noise from [an apparently] classically trained pianist. Daniel Francis Doyle is from Austin and a one man band feat. loop pedal, a guitar and really hard-hitting drums. I'm undecided whether I liked it or not- there was a certain obnoxious appeal to it though, something almost rebellious in the same way that Daniel Johnston is (that's what they call lazy journalism and/or writing, kids. Lucky I claim to be neither of these so comparisons ahoy). By the time Growing (Brooklyn) came on the crowd had diminished somewhat more, and they seemed visibly perturbed. Possibly why they played such a seemingly short set. They have just expanded to become a three piece, but I never knew them as a two-piece so have no comparisons to make. They're all pedals and drum machines and heavy on the sampling and it was totally ruling. (Sorry, I'm not much in the mood for writing tonight.)

I also went to see Land of Talk on Saturday night in lovely Wakefield, but did not bring my camera along. It was tops though.

Wednesday, 7 April 2010

I've never been very good at genres (who needs to be in this hyphenated day and age?) so try make sense of this if you can: Over-Gain Optimal Death (or OGOD) are from California - but they sound nothing like 'California', they sound so far from the beach and sunglasses, it would make more sense if they came from some grim rural town perpepuated by grey skies and concrete. The play psychedelic/sludge/doom metal/fuzz and I could feel the air vibrating, standing so close to the amps. The drummer flashed a menacing smile every time they entered new territories of loud. It was, in a word, brilliant. Plus, there was lots of hair (and then none on the drummer).If you don't know who Acid Mothers Temple and their various incarnations are by now you should probably do yourself a favour and get onto it. If you need a little shove along, just imagine four old Japanese dudes blissing out to psychedelic jams. It's kind of a religious experience. Highlights include Kawabato Makota aka lead guitarist swinging his guitar around in a frenzy of feedback and fuzz, hitting himself in the mouth, attempting to hang it on a cable from the ceiling only to have it fall on top of his head amongst the mess of his already bleeding lip (poor dear), water bottle acoustics accompanied by a tambourine and something about a cover for their encore (I think I heard someone mutter The Rolling Stones but I couldn't place it). Best show I have been to all year, hearing loss included (earplugs, Dimity, learn to love earplugs!). These less than average photos don't really reveal that.